"Seven Winters In Teheran"
The innocents who paid the price

One of the most moving moments of the Berlinale 2023 was certainly the presentation of Steffi Niederzoll's documentary film "Seven Winters in Tehran"

By Daphnée Martel and Ianèle Bellemare

Seven Winters in Tehran is a documentary about Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young woman from Iran who was unjustly killed. Directed by Steffi Niederzoll, the film tells this terrible story through models, recordings of phone calls or cell phone videos. The narrators of the story are Reyhaneh's relatives. The audience learns at the beginning that she was attacked by a man and killed him in self-defense. Reyhaneh spent seven winters in prison and was eventually executed. She was found guilty of murder because her attacker's family would not forgive the young woman.  

a mother's courage

The screening was unforgettable. The audience was completely silent at the end of the screening, only scattered sobs could be heard. The mood changed completely when Reyhaneh's mother, Shole Pakravan, entered the stage. It was the great, dazzling power of this woman that made the audience stand up and applaud her for minutes. We were extremely moved to see this woman standing before us with such tremendous power. Already during the documentary, we had witnessed the mother's big heart and her bravery that blew up the screen. In several clips, we could see Shole Pakravan bravely fighting for her daughter's life. We could also see this heroism during the interview at the end of the screening. She is a woman of tremendous kindness who continues to fight for people who suffer the same fate as her daughter. Also present was one of Reyhaneh's sisters, who told of her sister's and her mother's courage. Knowing that these women have been through such a great tragedy broke our hearts and made us realize what a privilege it is to live in the West.  

A film that makes you think 

With tears streaming down our cheeks, we realized how incredibly lucky we were to live in Canada. The film is enormously thought-provoking about human rights, especially women's rights, which are trampled on in some extremist countries. During the screening, we realized that Reyhaneh's trial was corrupted by men blinded by revenge and misogyny. It broke our hearts to see that even in the 21st century, justice can sometimes still be so unjust. The media's treatment of the Jabbari family left us speechless. The trial of Reyhaneh was a major media event in Iran, and the facts were twisted and distorted by the media. These invented several facts to create an unjustified hatred against the Jabbari family. For example, they invented the fact that the father of the family, Fereydoon Jabbari, had beaten his wife and children and that Reyhaneh had therefore become violent. However, we witnessed the great kindness and gentleness of this man who only wanted the best for his family. It remains extremely frustrating to see how innocent people have to pay the price for a corrupt society.